Canada minister spoke to North Korean counterpart ahead of pastor's release

FILE PHOTO - Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers her statement at the ASEAN-Canada Ministerial Meeting of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and its Dialogue Partners at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay city, metro Manila, Philippines on August 6, 2017. REUTERS/Bullit Marquez/Pool/File Photo

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she spoke briefly with her North Korean counterpart at a meeting in Manila on Sunday, days before Pyongyang released Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim from a prison where he was serving a life sentence.

"We were clear with North Korea that Pastor Lim needed to be released, and we are very, very glad that happened," Freeland told reporters at a press conference on Friday, a day after Lim arrived in Japan en route to his home in a Toronto suburb.